About me

This blogname was derived from the novel The Secret Life Of Saeed The Pessoptimist by the Palestinian Israeli Emile Habiby: absurdism as weapon against the (ir)realities of daily life in Palestine/Israel. (The subtitle is from a book by Dutch author Renate Rubinstein. It could as well be my motto).
My real name is Martin (Maarten Jan) Hijmans. I've been covering the ME since 1977 and have been a correspondent in Cairo. I started my 'Abu Pessoptimist' blog in January 2009 out of anger during the onslaught in Gaza. The other one, The Pessoptmist, is meant to be a sister version in English. (En voor de Nederlandstaligen: ik wilde in november 2009 een tweede blog in het Engels beginnen en ontdekte te laat dat als je één account hebt, een profiel dan meteen ook voor allebei de blogs geldt. Vandaar dat het nu ineens in het Engels is... So sorry.)

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Syrian state media: agreement reached with Arab League

Tens of thousands take part in a pro-Assad manifestation on Damascus' Omayyad Square on 26 October. They came by themselves, were not brought in in busses by the government like it used to be in Saddam's Iraq and many other places. The support that the regime obviously still has is something that maybe does not get the attention it deserves.

Syria said on Tuesday it had reached agreement with an Arab League committee tasked with finding a way to end seven months of unrest. State media reported 'agreement regarding a
final document on the situation in Syria,' without giving details,
saying an official announcement would be made at the Arab League
headquarters in Cairo on Wednesday. But
a senior Arab League official said the organization was still awaiting a
response from Damascus.
Meanwhile the bloodshed continued according to
activists. Ttwo civilians were shot dead by
Assad's forces in Homs and two soldiers killed by army deserters in an
ambush. One activist also said gunmen
dragged nine people, all of them from Assad's minority Alawite sect,
from a bus on a road between the cities of Homs and Hama, and killed
them

According to Arab diplomats the Arab League proposed
that Syria release immediately prisoners held since February, withdraw
its security forces from the streets, permit deployment of Arab League
monitors and start a dialogue with the opposition. Qatari
Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, whose country heads
the Arab League ministerial committee, also said Assad must launch
serious reforms if Syria were to avoid further violence.A
Lebanese official with close ties to the government in Damascus said
Syria had put forward its own proposals to the Arab League."The
Syrian authorities want the opposition to drop weapons, the Arab states
to end their funding for the weapons and the opposition, and an end to
the media campaign against Syria," the official told Reuters.
Omar Idlibi, a member of the grassroots Local
Coordination Committee and member of the National Council, said the
opposition wanted to see details of the agreement. 'We
fear that this agreement is another attempt to give the regime a new
chance to crush this revolution and kill more Syrians,' he said."It
helps the Syrian regime to remain in power while the demands of the
people are clear in terms of toppling the regime and its unsuitability
even to lead a transitional period.'